Possible to rescue an old 745i/100? - HP UX

This is a discussion on Possible to rescue an old 745i/100? - HP UX ; I've recently signed on with a callcenter in the IT department. I've
been slowly garnering knowledge about the particular hardware we use
here (in this particular case, a Mosaix dialer with an HP B2600 at its
core). However, we also ...

Possible to rescue an old 745i/100?

I've recently signed on with a callcenter in the IT department. I've
been slowly garnering knowledge about the particular hardware we use
here (in this particular case, a Mosaix dialer with an HP B2600 at its
core). However, we also have an older model, with a pair of 745i/100
Industrial Workstations that had been used in it. I am trying to get
either one of these old machines to boot- one of them (the one that I
can actually get anything on the video card) boots to the system
console, with the 8 yellow fkey-blocks onscreen- however, it doesn't go
further (i.e. there is no boot status text of any kind). I am trying to
get it running so we can install it in the old dialer system once more,
but am unsure as to how that could be done- neither of these machines
are supplied with a floppy or CD-rom, and their tape drives are bad
(hence the replacement). Is there a way to make these systems bootable
once more, or are we better off purchasing another used? Or, is there
somewhere one can acquire HP/UX 9.0 installation media (as we still have
the license certificate)?

Re: Possible to rescue an old 745i/100?

In article <6yore.65$j85.3884@news.uswest.net>, Gary Helriegel wrote:
> I've recently signed on with a callcenter in the IT department. I've
> been slowly garnering knowledge about the particular hardware we use
> here (in this particular case, a Mosaix dialer with an HP B2600 at its
> core).
> However, we also have an older model, with a pair of 745i/100
> Industrial Workstations that had been used in it. I am trying to get
> either one of these old machines to boot- one of them (the one that I
> can actually get anything on the video card) boots to the system
> console, with the 8 yellow fkey-blocks onscreen- however, it doesn't go
> further (i.e. there is no boot status text of any kind).

That might indicate that it has the console on a serial port. I've run
into the occasional newer workstation that does that too if the console
is on serial and X isn't configured to start at all, even with the
system in perfect working condition. (As a matter of fact, I know people
who set them up that way, it makes a lot of sense for their purpose.)

Re: Possible to rescue an old 745i/100?

> > However, we also have an older model, with a pair of 745i/100
> > Industrial Workstations that had been used in it. I am trying to get
> > either one of these old machines to boot- one of them (the one that I
> > can actually get anything on the video card) boots to the system
> > console, with the 8 yellow fkey-blocks onscreen- however, it doesn't go
> > further (i.e. there is no boot status text of any kind).
>
> That might indicate that it has the console on a serial port.

Agreed, we had one in stock last year with the same problem. A 9600 baud
serial console is the way forwards.

Re: Possible to rescue an old 745i/100?

John Burns wrote:
>>>However, we also have an older model, with a pair of 745i/100
>>>Industrial Workstations that had been used in it. I am trying to get
>>>either one of these old machines to boot- one of them (the one that I
>>>can actually get anything on the video card) boots to the system
>>>console, with the 8 yellow fkey-blocks onscreen- however, it doesn't go
>>>further (i.e. there is no boot status text of any kind).
>>
>>That might indicate that it has the console on a serial port.
>
>
> Agreed, we had one in stock last year with the same problem. A 9600 baud
> serial console is the way forwards.
>
To force it to the console make sure the keybrd is unplugged then you
should get an ISL> prompt. I worked on that stuff many years ago, can
you say "ruggedized systems", long time ago in a land far away...

Re: Possible to rescue an old 745i/100?

Gary Helriegel wrote:
> I've recently signed on with a callcenter in the IT department. I've
> been slowly garnering knowledge about the particular hardware we use
> here (in this particular case, a Mosaix dialer with an HP B2600 at its
> core). However, we also have an older model, with a pair of 745i/100
> Industrial Workstations that had been used in it. I am trying to get
> either one of these old machines to boot- one of them (the one that I
> can actually get anything on the video card) boots to the system
> console, with the 8 yellow fkey-blocks onscreen- however, it doesn't go
> further (i.e. there is no boot status text of any kind). I am trying to
> get it running so we can install it in the old dialer system once more,
> but am unsure as to how that could be done- neither of these machines
> are supplied with a floppy or CD-rom, and their tape drives are bad
> (hence the replacement). Is there a way to make these systems bootable
> once more, or are we better off purchasing another used? Or, is there
> somewhere one can acquire HP/UX 9.0 installation media (as we still have
> the license certificate)?

For the HP-UX 10.x and upwards, the license has changed: As far as I know, for
workstations the cpu is the license: if you have a pa-risc workstation, you have
a license. Now it is up to you to get your hands on installation media.

If you are not hooked to hp-ux, I'd go for linux. Check Debian or Gentoo, they
also support PARisc architecture.